Archive for November, 2010

Low carb cauliflower fried ‘rice’

November 30, 2010 at 8:48 am · Filed under Gluten free, Kid friendly, Low Carb, Low GI, Singapore, Vegetarian ·Tagged , , , , , ,

Thanks for the all comments on the cauliflower ‘rice’.  Something new I tried last week was to make cauliflower fried ‘rice’.  I made two pans, one for me using recipe below, and one for kids which was half cauli, half rice.  The recipe was inspired by the recipe in Jane Kennedy’s ‘OMG! I can eat that?’  I really couldn’t tell that I wasn’t eating rice!  The kids devoured theirs, so this will be an easy midweek staple.

(I am listing this a vegetarian, but you’ll need to take out the ham)

Ingredients for 4

cauliflower fried rice (see last post) (double quantity)

spray oil

2 eggs, whisked with 1 tablespoon water

1 garlis glove finely chopped

1 knob ginger finely chopped

100 leg ham chopped

2 tab salt reduced light soy sauce or tamati

1 spring onino sliced on diagonal

1/2 carrot julienned

 

Method

Spray pan with oil. Make an omelette by cooking eggs for a minute or so, slide out of pan, roll up and slice.  Set aside.

Spray pan again, cook garlic and ginger for 20 seconds.  Add ham and carrot cook for a few more minutes (at this point I split the mixture into two pans, one with only cauli for adults and one with 1/2 rice 1/2 cauli for kids).   Add cauli and toss through pan.

Add egg, soy and spring onions and stir through.  Serve.  I like to add some fresh chopped chlili to mine.

 

 

 

Leave a Comment

Cauliflower ‘rice’

November 29, 2010 at 2:25 pm · Filed under Gluten free, Low Carb, Low GI, Uncategorized, Vegetarian ·Tagged , ,

If you’ve overindulged on the bread, cheese, wine or chocolates on the weekend, why not have a low-carb day?  When you give up/cut down carbs, a challenge is what to serve with stews and curries.  The marvellous Jane Kennedy came up with cauliflower rice in her book “cooking without the boombah”.  I was extremely dubious about it, but served with something saucey you really don’t miss the rice.  For the kids I mix in the cauliflower rice with their basmati.

Cauliflower is a member of the cruciferous family, like broccoli.  It contains sulforaphane, an anti-cancer compound.

CAULIFLOWER ‘RICE’

(serves 2 as a side)

Take half a head of cauliflower. Break into florets and place into a microwave dish with a lid. Don’t add water. Turn on high for (approx) 4 minutes. Whizz the cauliflower with a Bamix or food processor until it resembles cous cous. It should be light and ‘fluffy’, not mushy.

The ‘rice’ soaks up the juices and flavours of whatever dish you’re serving….without the added calories.

Comments (2)

Chinese poached chicken with onion rice

November 25, 2010 at 9:54 am · Filed under Chicken, Gluten free, High protein, Kid friendly, Low Carb, Low GI, Singapore ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

I am aware of the irony of preparing “chinese chicken rice”, one of Singapore’s national dishes myself when I can get it at a hawker centre for $4.  However I like knowing I have used a free range antibiotic free chicken plus I add a lot of organic chinese greens.

Everyone in our house loves this recipe.  You can save the stock, skim the fat and you have the makings of a chinese master stock which you can use to poach chicken breasts, or add to stir fries.

Serves 6

1×1.5kg chicken, excess fat removed

1 bunch coriander (cilantro), including roots (reserve leaves for sauce)

3 spring (green) onions, chopped
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 tablespoons salt
500g long-grain rice (I use basmati because it is low GI, although a food purist would use jasmine)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 onion, finely sliced

To serve:

coriander (cilantro) sprigs
soy and fresh ginger dressing (below)
steamed chinese greens

Place chicken in a large saucepan and add coriander roots and stems, spring onions, peppercorns, salt and two litres of water. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a bare simmer, cover saucepan and continue to simmer for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and leave the chicken in the pot for a further 40 minutes, without lifting the lid.

Wash rice until water runs clear. Heat the oils in a saucepan over low heat and add garlic, ginger and onion. Cook for 15 minutes. Add rice to the pan and stir-fry for three minutes. Increase heat to medium-high, add a litre of chicken liquid to rice and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove and leave for 10 minutes without lifting the lid. Season with salt and pepper before serving.

Cut chicken into serving-size pieces. Remove the chicken skin, it blows out the calorie content – you can live without it.  Decorate with sprigs of coriander. Serve with onion rice, soy and fresh ginger dressing and steamed chinese greens.

Soy and ginger dressing

1/4 cup light soy sauce

2 tablespoons reserved chicken stock

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 cup spring onions julienne

1 tablespoon ginger julienne

Combine ingredients in a small bowl.

Leave a Comment

A calorie deficit…

November 23, 2010 at 10:02 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , ,

Remember those calorie counter books our mums used in the 70s?  It is actually a good idea to add up your daily calorie intake to make sure you are not taking in more calories than you are burning up.  It also teaches you to identify calorie-dense foods so you can be in charge of your choices.

Recommended calories per day

Women 1200 -1500 calories, which is 3 meals each at around 300 – 350 calories plus 1 or 2 snacks of around 100 – 150 calories

Men  1300 – 1800 calories, 3 meals of around 400 – 450 calories plus 1 or 2 snacks at around 200 calories

If you are a metric person, 1 calorie equals 4.2kj, so you can multiply by 4.2 kJ to get the kilojoule allowance.

Calorie guide

Most vegies are very low in calories:

100 g salad vegies = 20 calories

100g light vegies (carrots, leeks, swede) = 25 calories

100g heavy vegies (sweet potato, parsnip, pumkin) = 50 calories

For meat and fish:

1g of white fish, seafood or kangaroo = 1 calorie

1g of chicken. tuna = 1.5 calories

1g of red meat, salmon = 2 calories

A good guide to portion size for protein is to eat a piece about the size of your palm.

Leave a Comment

Jamie’s Tray Baked Salmon with Olives and Green Beans

November 22, 2010 at 1:32 pm · Filed under Fish, Gluten free, High protein, Kid friendly, Low Carb, Low GI ·Tagged , , , , , ,

This is a recipe I have made so many times.  It is gorgeous as a simple ladies’ lunch or as a family dinner.  It comes from the book where we all fell in love with Jamie Oliver – “The Naked Chef”.  Only uses one pan, and you can get it ready and cooked in less than 20 minutes.

serves 4

The idea of this dish is to bake your salmon plainly with a little olive oil and sea salt.  In the same tray, bake tomatoes, olives and blanched green beans, laying anchovies over the beans.  As the anchovies cook they fall apart and as the olives roast they sort of infuse a smoky flavour with the tomatoes.

Ingredients
200gr/7oz green beans
20 small cherry tomatoes
1-2 good handfuls of black olives
2 tablespoons EV olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 x 225g/8oz thick salmon fillet steaks, with or without skin, but definitely pin boned
2 lemons
1 handful of fresh basil picked
12 anchovy fillets

Method
First of all tail the green beans, blanch them until tender in salted, boiling water, and drain. Put in a bowl with the cherry tomatoes and the stoned olives. Toss in the olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Give the salmon fillets a quick wash under the tap and pat dry with kitchen paper. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lemon over the fillets, on both sides, then season both sides with salt and pepper and drizzle a little olive oil over the top. Preheat the oven and a roasting tray at the highest temperature. Put your 4 fillets of salmon at one end of the roasting tray. Toss the basil into the green beans, olives and tomatoes and place this mixture at the other end of the tray. Lay the anchovies over the green beans. Roast in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and serve with lemon quarters.

Leave a Comment

Chicken and chorizo hotpot

November 17, 2010 at 8:50 am · Filed under Chicken, Gluten free, High protein, Kid friendly, Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , , ,

Here’s another fantastic Bridgette Hafner recipe that my whole family loves.  I love any recipe that avoids browning of chicken, this recipe you just pop it all in the dish and the oven does the rest.  I usually make enough for two nights,   the second night I serve this with basmati rice and it tastes a bit paella-ish.  I guess chorizo isn’t a hugely healthy ingredient so you can omit it if you are really watching your fat intake.  I often cook this recipe using skinned marylands or drumsticks  rather than chicken pieces.

Ingredients
1 free-range chicken, cut into 8 pieces (or ask your butcher to do this), skinned as much as possible
1 fresh chorizo sausage, or spicy Italian sausage, sliced in 1cm-thick pieces
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1 red and 1 yellow capsicum, cut in thick slices
1 tin Italian tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/4 cup white wine
salt and pepper
3-4 fresh bay leaves
small handful black olives (optional)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

Preheat oven to 200C. Choose a baking dish that will comfortably hold all the ingredients and place the chicken pieces, with the sausage, garlic, onion, capsicum, tomato and white wine, in the baking dish. Season with salt and pepper and toss to mix.

Arrange the chicken pieces skin side up in the dish, add the bay leaves and olives and drizzle over the olive oil. Cook for 1 hour.  You might need to cover with foil for the last 15 minutes if the chicken is getting too brown.

Serve with beautiful steamed beans or broccolini

Leave a Comment

Eat Smart – to lose weight, you need to eat!

November 15, 2010 at 5:22 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , ,

To change your body shape, the amount of calories you eat needs to be less than the amount you use in order to force your body to draw on stored fat.

But there are things you can do that make eating a little less a whole lot easier.

Strange as it might sound, to lose weight, you have to eat. Low calorie diets slow down your metabolism. Your body tries to conserve the amount of energy it’s using and goes into ‘survival mode’. You’ll gain back whatever you lose (and some) as your body overcompensates for the deprivation you’ve just subjected it to.

The trick is to have smaller but more frequent meals. Eating regularly keeps your calorie-burning potential and energy levels at an optimum level:

• Eating actually uses energy to digest food and keeps your metabolism humming along. Make sure you have some protein in every meal to maximise satisfaction levels and ensure steady energy release

• You’ll avoid cravings and resist binge-eating when you don’t allow your blood sugar levels to drop too far. Go no more than 3 hours without a proper snack

• Never skip a meal – especially breakfast. You can’t function optimally, meaning you’ll make poor decisions, when you’re running low on fuel.

Leave a Comment

Marinated Lamb with Eggplant Salad

November 12, 2010 at 8:57 am · Filed under Gluten free, High protein, Iron Rich, Kid friendly, Lamb, Low GI ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

Another Bill Granger recipe, which we love as a Sunday dinner with friends.  I have modified the eggplant recipe to make it a bit quicker and easier.  The kids will eat the lamb, still working on getting them to love eggplant!

Did you know that The US National Diabetes Education Program, Mayo Clinic and American Diabetes Association recommend an eggplant based diet as a choice for management of type 2 diabetes? The rationale for this suggestion is the high fibre and low soluble carbohydrate content of eggplant.

Serves 4

1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoons olive oil
4 x 200 g (7 oz) lamb backstraps
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

TO SERVE
spicy eggplant salad (below)
coriander (cilantro) sprigs
plain yoghurt

Place the paprika, cumin, garlic and olive oil in a bowl and stir to combine. Trim the lamb of any excess fat and sinew then coat with the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to marinate for 2 hours, bringing to room temperature in the last 30 minutes.

Heat a frying pan over a high heat. Season the lamb with salt and pepper and cook for 3 to 4 minutes each side.

Transfer the lamb to a plate, cover with foil and keep in a warm place for 10 minutes. Slice each lamb fillet on the diagonal into 2 cm (3/4 inch) pieces and serve with the spicy eggplant salad, coriander sprigs and yoghurt.

SPICY EGGPLANT SALAD
2 large eggplant (aubergine)
1 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
3 tablespoons chopped coriander (cilantro)
2 tablespoons paprika
1 small red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil, extra
400g time chopped Roma tomatoes
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
freshly ground black pepper

Cut into 1 cm (1/2 inch) thick slices. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).

Place the eggplant in a single layer in two baking trays and brush with olive oil on each side. Cook for 30 minutes, swapping the position of the trays halfway through. Remove from the oven.

Sprinkle the eggplant with water if it is a little dry. Cool for 5 minutes, dice and place in a bowl. Add the garlic, parsley, coriander, paprika, chilli and cumin and stir to combine.

Place the extra olive oil in a saucepan over a medium to high heat and add the tomatoes, salt and sugar. Cook for 10 minutes, add the eggplant mixture and cook for another 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice, vinegar and black pepper. Serve warm

Leave a Comment

Diwali Masala Ginger Prawn Curry

November 11, 2010 at 9:32 am · Filed under Fish, Gluten free, Low Carb, Low GI, Singapore ·Tagged , , , , ,

Here’s a beautiful prawn curry that I learnt how to make recently at an Indian cooking class here in Singapore.  I cooked it to celebrate Diwali – the Indian festival of lights.

My husband described this recipe as Indian food cooked by Thai people – meaning the flavours are very fresh.

It’s quite spicy – so not one for my kids.  Did you know Masala means mixture, and a masala should be spicy?

 

nkjain

Ingredients

300g of fresh prawns (cleaned, deveined, with the tail intact)

1 tomato, diced

3 dried chillis, soaked in hot water and pulsed

1 red capsicum, diced

2 red ontions, diced

3 slices ginges, chopped

2 1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tespoon fenugreek seeds

3 cardamon pods, crushed

1 tsp turmeric

2 tsp ground fennel

2 tab fresh mint, chopped

Method

Heat oil in a pan, fry onions and gingers for 3 minutes.

Add fenugreek, dried chilli paste and cardamons, fry 2 minutes.

Add tumeric, cumin and feenel powder, plus 1/4 cup of water and stir well.

Add 1/2 tsp salt, plus the tomatoes and capsicum, cover and cook for 3 minutes.

Add peeled prawns and cook for around 3 minutes.

Sprinkle over the mint and serve with some just wilted baby spinach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a Comment

Vietnamese ricepaper rolls

November 4, 2010 at 8:47 am · Filed under Chicken, Gluten free, Kid friendly, Low Carb, Low GI ·Tagged , , , ,

I’ve been watching the gorgeous Luke Ngyuyen on tele and am dreaming about a trip to Vietnam.  In the meantime, the children and I have been making ricepaper rolls.  I find my kids eat more vegies if they are assembling tacos, wraps or these rolls themselves.  A ricepaper wrap is gluten free, and only 30 kj per wrap.  This is Lynne Mullen’s recipe from an old Good Living.

I

Ingredients

  • 1 lebanese cucumber
  • 1 medium carrot, peeled
  • baby spinach leaves
  • 24  small round rice paper sheets
  • 1-2 chicken breast fillets (depending on size), steamed and sliced into sticks or poached prawns
  • 1 cup bean shoots
  • mint leaves
  • Hoisin sauce, to serve

Method

Cut cucumber and carrot into 6cm sticks. Place one sheet of rice paper in a bowl of warm water until just softened. Remove and place on a tea towel. Place some baby spinach and a piece of chicken in the centre of the rice paper, top with a stick each of cucumber and carrot, two or three bean shoots and two mint leaves, fold over and roll rice paper to enclose filling. Repeat with remaining rice paper sheets and fillings.

Serve with hoisin sauce.

Makes 24.

Leave a Comment

Older Posts »